Apparatus for honing hard surfaced materials



Oct. 31, 1961 H. KNOST 3, 6,116

APPARATUS FOR HONING HARD SURFACED MATERIALS Filed Feb. 17, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet l I N VEN TOR:

Zlgyd JY 75/2/05? APPARATUS FOR HONING HARD SURFACED MATERIALS Filed Feb. 17, 1959 L. H. KNOST Oct. 31, 1961 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Oct. 31, 1961 L. H. KNOST 3,006,116

APPARATUS FOR HONING HARD SURFACED MATERIALS Filed. Feb. 17, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVEN TOR:

I56 .5 609d fi. 115/2056 /37 BY Oct. 31, 1961 H. KNOST 3,006,116

APPARATUS FOR HONING HARD SURFACED MATERIALS Filed Feb. 17, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Stab INVENTOR: 2 llgyci [f 72 0/0525 United States Patent 3,006,116 APPARATUS FOR HONING HARD EBURFACED MATERIALS Lloyd H. Knost, R0. Box 415, Carthage, Mo. Filed Feb. 17, 1959, Ser. No. 793,864 9 Claims. (Cl. 51-55) This invention is concerned with an apparatus generally adapted for finishing and polishing surfaces of various kinds of hard materials.

More specifically, this invention realtes to a machine providing an arrangement of multiple floating honing heads operated and controlled for finishing and polishing surface areas of slabs of various material such as/or having the nature of marble, granite, terrazzo, glass and of substances falling in that same general category. For convenience, the description to follow all broadly refer to a slab or slab materials as the form of the structure subjected to the honing cycle of the machine disclosed. Also, and more specifically, the slab material will be spoken of as marble.

As a matter of further explanation, the machine of this invention may be considered as an independent single apparatus employed for honing a work piece. On the other hand, the apparatus may also constitute a station in a multi-station machine functioning to perform difierent cycles or phases of finishing or processing a given slab of material such as marble.

This relationship may be better understood by reference to a copending application Serial No. 748,741, filed on July 15, 1958, now Patent No. 2,985,989 covering a Slab Surfacing Machine which relates to a slab finishing station that acts upon a rough cut slab of hard material such as stone or marble to institute a true and perfectly fiat surface on the work piece devoid of all out of plane elevations or depressions. Several such initial finishing stations may be considered advisable or necessary in working a slab surface to obtain a given result. Thus one or more of the initial finishing head stations may be employed along a conveyor route carrying the slab pieces. These initial operations are then supplemented by one or more fine finishing and/or polishing stations comprising apparatus for then honing such materials, which ap paratus forms the subject matter of the present application.

One of the principal distinctions between the machine of the copending application and the machine herein described lies in the functions and operation of the finishing heads. In the former case, the heads are all adjusted and held for operation at fixed elevations to edgewise act upon a slab of material, while in the latter case the heads are independently operable and all supported in floating relation to the Work piece to come down upon the adjacent surface of the slab as it is advanced and carried along up on a conveyor under the finishing heads.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a plurality of floating working heads that are normally retracted into inoperative positions and which may be individually actuated into surface engaging position upon a slab of hard material as the latter passes the finishing or honing station consisting of these head assemblies.

As another object, the heads are arranged for downward actuation to bring their honing units into operative surface contact upon a slab of material through the use of automatic mechanism that responds to the passage of a work piece in a given relation to the positions of the heads as considered with respect to the path of travel of the work pieces.

Another object of the present apparatus is to provide adjustable means to bodily carry all of the finishing heads 3,066,116 Patented Oct. 31, 1961 into a selected vertical position with respect to a slab surface and to then provide further means in the combination which functions to actuate the heads out of the adjusted elevation for direct operative contact With the surface of a slab of moving material to finish the engaged surface area thereof.

It is a further object of this invention to incorporate mechanism to bodily oscillate the heads in a general direction laterally of the machine whereby to move the heads at right angles to the longitudinal path of advance of the slab work pieces being run through the machine at a given elevation upon a conveyor.

A still further object is to provide individual control mechanisms to lower the heads, respectively, into operative finishing position upon a slab providing the slab width warrants action from such heads. In other words, with the use of multiple heads across the slab conveyor area or path, as different widths of slab material are advanced through the finishing station, the slab itself provides the gauge means to render the affected control mechanisms active to bring the heads down upon the slab. The heads that lie outside of the slab surface area remain in positions that are out of contact with the slab, which positions correspond to the elevation of the adjustable head support of the machine.

in general, the heads will normally be bodily actuated by means of a power driven mechanism during the operation of the machine. The heads are each driven by separate motors and preferably the adjacent heads and their finishing wheels are rotated in opposite directions. The surface areas worked by adjacent heads include a certain amount of overlap of the finishing wheels which follows the operation of the copending case.

While the individual motors for each head assembly can be kept running during the slab finishing operation of the machine, suitable microswitch means are used to energize each of the individual motor circuits. Such switch means are arranged and rendered operative by the passage of a slab of material of a given width. The operative mechanism for the switch that energizes the motor circuit is herein made to respond to the control of the same mechanism that activates the head assembly. A similar identical but independent duplicate means can be arranged, if desired, in the slab path in advance of the mechanism that drops the head assembly. This duplication establishes a timing relationship whereby the finishing wheel of the head involved may be brought up to speed by the motor before the head is lowered against the surface of the slab.

Thus in cases where a considerable run of material of a given maximum width and of smaller widths is processed, the motors of the excluded head assemblies will remain idle, conserving power and also minimizing motor wear and needless wear of the unused parts of that head assembly.

Other objects and advantages relating to the slab finishing apparatus of the present invention shall hereinafter appear in or become apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred form of the invention having reference to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a fragmentary portion of a machine incorporating the apparatus of the present invention that provides the combination of mechanisms that function to hone hard surfaced slab materials;

FIG. 2 is a front end elevational view of the machine as it generally appears when viewed from the slab feeding end thereof;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the portion of the machine which is illustrated in FIG. 1, and with certain parts thereof being shown in section and with other parts being diagrammatically indicated for the sake of clarity;

FIG. 4 is a detailed diagrammatic sectional View of the control units that are employed to activate the head assemblies and to move the grinding and polishing wheel elements into operative engagement with the surface of a slab for processing;

'FIG. 5 is an axial vertical cross sectional illustration through one of the head assemblies and as the same appears when viewed substantially along the plane of the line 5-5 indicated in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 6 is a detailed and sectional view of one of the several valve units that is used in series with one of the head assemblies of one of the floating polishing units to control the operation of such an associated finishing and polishing arrangement during the processing of a work piece of slab material.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, it should be observed that four complete head assembly arrangements are shown for purposes of explanation. It should be understood that any number of units of the same operational characteristics may also be employed across the width of the machine. The number of assemblies may be even in number or odd in number having one assembly located on the centerline of the machine and with the others flanking the odd unit.

It is preferable to use an even number of finishing or polishing assemblies under the principle of reverse rotation of the surfacing wheels since that will tend to hold the slab material in a straight line of travel when such a slab is being advanced through the machine upon the rollers provided for this purpose, or with other conveying equipment that may be used to feed such slab materials through the machine or from station to station as the case may be.

As best seen in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, a rigid horizontally arranged framework 1, generally including side frames 2 and 3, cross ties 4 and 5, all with suitable diagonal braces embodied for rigidity, are all firmly supported upon and secured to a base 6. A plurality of cross rollers 7 are each provided with shaft 8 that have their ends journalled in bearings 9 and 10 mounted upon frames 2 and 3 respectively. The rollers 7 are made from suitable friction material to firmly grip and to advance a slab along the length of the machine, and such rollers must be of limited resiliency when they are made from a rubber or synthetic rubber composition material. The rollers must also provide an accurate reference surface upon which to carry the slabs of marble or the like at a given elevation with respect to the finishing and polishing wheels of the head assemblies to insure uniform and repetitious results in the finished surfaces of the slabs processed by this machine. V

The rollers 7 are driven by power means comprising a motor 11 having its shaft 12 connected by a coupling 13 to a shaft 14 that drives through a speed reducing transmission 15 to a shaft 16 carrying a drive sprocket 17. The latter sprocket 17 is connected with a roller drive sprocket wheel 18 by means of a drive chain 19, and roller sprocket wheel 18 is secured to shaft 20* of the drive transmittal roller 21. Bearings 22 and 23 journal the ends of shaft 20 and the shaft and its roller 21 provide a means to carry the drive to the other side of the machine.

As best shown in FIG. 1, drive chains 24 and 25 are entrained over suitable sprockets secured to shaft 20 and these chains transmit the described drive in two directions to the next adjacent rollers 7. The other rollers 7 all receive their drive from chains such as 26 and 27 that are staggered alternately as shown in FIG. 1, It should also be observed that roller 21 and its next adjacent succeeding roller 7 are closely spaced beneath the area of operation of the head assemblies to provide a good backing for a slab at the finishing and polishing station.

The finishing and polishing head assemblies are all alike in construction and such assemblies appear at 28, 29, 30 and 31 in FIG. 2 which are all mounted for concerted movement upon an overhead box frame 32. Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, it should be noted that the box frame 32 is constructed and arranged for oscillatory motion transversely to the length of the machine and that this frame is also included as a part of a supporting structure that w'dl bodily elevate or lower frame 32 and its associated head assemblies 28-31 to dispose the working Wheels on the slabs of marble or the like resting upon the conveying rollers.

The vertically adjustable structure 33 includes outboard telescoping units 34 and 35 comprising fixed sleeves 36 and 37 mounted upon frame legs 38 and 39 and that slidably receive the socketed sleeve cylinders 43 and 41 that are fixedly joined together by an overhead bridging tube frame 42. Power means is supplied to elevate the cylinders 40 and 41 in unison and this means comprises a reversible motor 43 driving pulley and belt means 44 to rotate a cross shaft 45 that connects with couplings 46 and 47 to shafts 48 and 49 of the speed reducing transmissions 50 and 51.

Transmission 59 provides a drive shaft 52 with a sprocket 53 to operate chain 54 entrained about sprocket 55 secured to a screw 56 that is mounted for rotation about a vertical axis, but held against endwise motion. Screw 56 threads through a nut 57 that is secured to an end wall portion 58 of the cylinder 40 as seen in FIG. 3.

The drive from transmission 51 is continued by means of shaft 59, sprocket 60, chain 61, sprocket 62 to another vertically arranged screw 63 that engages a nut 64 secured into the base end 65 of the cylinder 41 to endwise actuate the latter cylinder in its confining fixed sleeve 37.

Thus the operation of motor 43 through the described transmission mechanism provides a means to raise or lower the overhead tube frame 42 responsive to the ro tation of the screws 56 and 63 acting in their companion nuts 57 and 64 that operate the telescoping units 34- and 35.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3, the box frame 32 and the tube frame are disposed in flanking positions with the latter providing the supporting part of the vertically adjustable structure 33. A parallelogram link mechanism is provided to carry frame 32 and the associated head assemblies 28-31 for oscillatory movement with respect to the normally fixed frame 42.

The link mechanism comprises vertical-1y spaced fixed pairs of flanges 66-66 and 6767 connected with the opposite ends of frame 32 and these flanges are pivotally connected through stub shafts 68 and 69 with vertically spaced pairs of arms 7070 and 71-71 that are mounted upon the overhead tube frame 42 by means of pivot shafts 72 and 73 as best illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3.

With this arrangement, frame 32 and the head assemblies are enabled to move back and forth across the width of the machine and the moved assembly group remains at right angles to the path of advance of the slab materials as the latter are conveyed longitudinally of the machine roller bed. Obviously, the finishing wheels will describe individual arcs that are convexly described into the line of advance of a slab work piece producing a compound motion union of the wheels at their points of contact with the slab surface. In fact three independent motions prevail and are integrated at the work areas which motions are inherent in the wheel rotation factor; the bodily arcuate motion factor of each of the heads; and the advancing motion of the slab material per se. In fact a fourth motion incident may also be included when considering the reverse rotation of adjacent Wheels which act in overlapping relation to certain areas of the surface of the slab.

Power means is supplied to oscillate the box frame 32 together with the heads 2831 and this arrangement is best shown in FIG. 1. A platform 74 is connected with frame 42 and overhangs the machine at the side of the frame 42 oppositely disposed from the box frame 32. A motor 75 is mounted upon platform 74 and the motor shaft 76 rotates pulley 77 to drive belt 78 connected with pulley 79 on shaft 80 of a speed reducing transmission 81. A vertical drive shaft 82 depends out of transmission 81 and rotates a disc 83 provided with openings 84- 85-35 centered upon different radii to receive a pin 87 through one thereof to secure one end of a pitman arm 88 to the disc for crank motion. The other end of arm 88 is connected by pin 89 to the outer end of an arm 90 that is keyed or otherwise secured to the adjacent shaft 73 to thus tie up the power means with the oscillating head structure. Energizing motor 75 provides the power source to drive the above described connected mechanisms which act directly upon the parallelogram link means to actuate the finishing and polishing equipment of the machine.

The amplitude of the stroke may be selectively changed at disc 83 or by any other suitable equivalent mechanism. Motor 75 is preferably of a variable speed type whereby to regulate the number or frequency of oscillations to best suit the particular material that is being processed and to obtain the desired end results.

The finishing and polishing apparatus and more specifically the individual head assemblies thereof are best illustrated and described with reference to FIG. which shows one head assembly 28 in constructional detail and the arrangement employed in mounting the assembly upon the box frame 32.

A bracket 91 is secured upon the top of the box frame and comprises a base 92, side flanges 93, and a vertically arranged mounting wall or web 94. A single acting power cylinder 95 is mounted upon the web 94 and includes a piston 96, piston rod 97, and an expansion spring 93 is interposed between the piston 96 and the cylinder closure cap 99 to normally urge the piston 96 upwardly into an inoperative position such as shown in FIG. 5. The piston rod 97 is pinned to a bearing sleeve 100 that carries the inner race of the ball bearings 101, while the outer race is tightly secured into the coupling 102. This permits free relative rotation between the sleeve 100 and the coupling 102 about the axis of the cylinder which coincides with the spindle axis, while also permitting concerted vertical displacement of such sleeve and coupling along the discussed axis.

The head carries the main finishing wheel driving spindle 103 within a surrounding drive sleeve 104 that is journalled in spaced bearings 105 and 106 attached to the top and bottom walls of the box frame 32. Spindle 103 is provided with a reduced end shaft 107 that fits into bore 108 in the coupling 102 and the latter has a key screw 109 that has its end seated within an annular groove 110 encircling the reduced end shaft 107 of the spindle 103. With this described mechanism, the vertical actuation of the piston rod 97 is imparted to the spindle 103. The cylinder 95 is single acting and only fluid under pressure directed upon the top of the piston thereof as supplied by a fluid hose 111 connected with cylinder 95 will drive the spindle 103 downwardly. The spring 93 acts to retract or lift the piston rod by forcing the piston 96 upwardly under fluid pressure release conditions.

It should be further observed that the sleeve 104 is mounted for rotation in the bearings 105 and 106, but the sleeve also includes suitable shouldered portions that prevent endwise shifting of this sleeve. The spindle 1113, however, is not only carried for rotation together with the sleeve 104, but also for relative axial motion therein. These two coacting rotatable elements are operatively connected by means of a key 112 secured to spindle 103, and the key 112 rides Within an elongated slot 113 formed into the wall of the sleeve 104. In this fashion the two parts can be rotated in unison, but also, the spindle may be vertically shifted relatively to the sleeve for purposes to be further explained.

A power drive is used to rotate the sleeve and spindle parts and this drive comprises a reversible motor 114 mounted upon the web 94 of bracket 91. Shaft 115 of motor 114 rotates a flexible chain wheel or sprocket 116 for transmitting the drive to a wheel or sprocket 117 by means of the transmission chain or belt structure 118. Wheel 117 is fixedly secured to a thrust bearing 119 that is keyed at 120 to sleeve 104. Thus operation of motor 114 rotatably drives the sleeve 104 and the key connected spindle 103.

A finishing and/or polishing head or wheel 121 is seured to the depending end of spindle 103. This wheel structure comprises a key and screw connected flanged sleeve ring 122 that is connected to a face plate 123 by means of bolts 124 passing through mounting elements 125. A plurality of honing blocks 126 are cemented or otherwise attached to the flat outer face area of the face plate. Blocks such as 126 may be made to include bonded diamond particles, standard vitrified or resonoid bonded particles, or any other kind or type of abrasive finishing materials that may be adapted to the processing of the various kinds of sla-b materials handled by the machine of this invention.

A shield or annular hood 127 is secured upon the face plate 123 to accept fluid, such as water, from a flexible conduit supplying a fluid delivery tube 128. This fluid is discharged into the wheel work area through openings such as 129 formed through the face plate 123.

Each head assembly is identical so that the same reference numerals will be applied to similar parts thereof. Likewise, each head operates identically and carries its own power source as supplied by its motor 114 which rotates the finishing wheels. The wheel structures 121 can all be positioned at given elevations by means of the vertically adjustable structure 33. This would be in a position just above the slab passage space and providing only enough clearance space to be easily traversed by the wheels under the action of the cylinders 95 that endwise operate the wheel spindles 103.

By operating the cylinder units when a slab is in a given position beneath the wheel zone, the finishing wheels are lowered or forced into contact with the upper slab surface. The finishing action is carried out by the wheel rotation, the oscillation of the wheel, and under the advancing action .of the slab being so moved by the slab supporting rollers. The wheels may be retracted by cutting off the fluid supply to cylinder 95.

In this connection, it should be noted that a fairly stiff expansion spring 130 is interposed between the coupling 102 and the upper end of sleeve 104. Under the spindle depressed cycle as controlled by fluid under pressure supplied to the cylinder 95, spring 130 is forcibly compressed. When the cylinder is rendered inactive by fluid cut-off, spring 130 supplements the spring 98 to urge the entire spindle 103 and its connected wheel parts, etc., in an upwardly direction to a raised inoperative position. In this way spring 98 serves essentially to restore the cylinder parts to inoperative raised position; while spring 130 essentially supplies the force to lift the spindle and the spindle connected elements.

As is well understood, the finishing wheels are oscillated and urged downwardly from given positions upon a slab unit to finish the surface thereof. It is, therefore, essential that the wheels only come in contact with the upper surface of a slab and must be prevented from striking the slab edges under oscillation.

Independent regulation and control means are used to only depress such of the wheels that will be needed to finish a slab of a given width and to insure that only those wheels that will engage theupper surface of a slab will be activated to operation. The other wheels will then remain in raised position and no damage will be done. Other control means are also employed to cut off power to the unused wheels when they are actually not in active operation.

Such control mechanisms are illustrated in FIG. 4 and comprise a trigger roller 131 pivotally supported upon an L-shaped arm 132 that is pivoted at 133 to a bracket or support 134 suitably carried upon a fixed part or par-ts of the machine frame work 1. Roller 131 is normally held in a given position in the path of the slab or slabs that move along the machine by means of a spring 135 and an adjustable stop means as the screw 136 and arm 137. By setting the stop means in a selected relation, the arm 132 will hold the roller 131 at a given elevation for engagement by a slab as determined by the spring 135 that urges the arm upwardly.

A valve 138 is placed in series in the air supply line that delivers fluid to the cylinder 95 that in turn actuates its associated spindle and wheel unit. Valve 138 is mounted on a structural member 139 on the framework 1 to locate the valve in a given position with respect to the roller arm means 131 and 132. Ann 132 includes a projecting finger 140 that coacts with the operating plunger 141 of valve 138.

The construction of valve 138 is better illustrated in FIG. 6. A pressure line 142 is connected with a fluid pressure source to supply fluid under pressure through a port 143 into the valve bore 144. A second fluid release or discharge line 145 is connected with bore 144 by a port 146. The third line is the hose or fluid conduit 111 that is arranged for communication with the valve bore 144 through the port 147.

A dual slide valve 148 provides a spool 149 for the pressure cycle and an integral spool 150 for the exhaust or pressure release cycle. A spring 151 holds the slide valve 148 upwardly and in operative contact with the lower end of the plunger 141 in which position the cylinder 95 is vented through line 111, port 147, bore 144, port 146 and line 145 to atmosphere. Depression of the plunger 141 by the roller-arm means 131-132 and finger 140 will move the slide valve 148 downwardly to cut 011 fiuid bypass about the spool 150 permitting fluid under pressure to flow from the supply line 142 and port 143 into bore 144 and about spool 149 to communicate with line 111 by means of port 147 to thus direct fluid under pressure into cylinder 95 for the downward actuation of the corresponding spindle and finishing wheel.

The pressure cycle prevails as long as and only when a slab passes under the spindle and wheel area to depress the trigger roller 131 associated with that particular head assembly. When the slab passes beyond the trigger roller location, the spindle and wheel assembly is automatically restored to its raised inoperative position.

Each head assembly includes the control means described and the trigger rollers thereof are preferably placed upon the respective axes of the spindles and in the positions of such axes when the spindles are at their center points along the oscillatory arcuate paths of motion as may best be observed from the indicated locations shown in FIG. 1.

It is further contemplated to include a motor shut-off circuit arrangement such as diagrammatically il ustrated in FIG. 4, which is likewise rendered directly responsive to the passage of a slab of material across given areas of the roller bed.

This circuit comprises, in general, a connection 152 leading from the power line that supplies line current to one side of a microswitch 153 through a main circuit switch 154. The other side of switch 153 is connected with the lead 155 to the motor 114- and the circuit is completed by lead 156 b ack to the ground side of the power line. A shunt switch circuit 157 may be incorporated to cut out the microswitch function at the selection of the operator.

A suitable control pin 158 is connected to move with the arm 137 of the roller operated L-arm 132 and this pin closes the microswitch circuit when roller 131 is depressed by a slab. This coaction of the parts noted activates the motor 114 and drives the head assembly mechanism associated with the corresponding energized motor. The other immediately coacting associated mechanisms, including valve 138, then cause the spindle and finishing wheel of the same head assembly to move downwardly into operative contact with the upper face of the moving conveyed slab of material. Advance of the slab out of the range of roller 131 again restores the described parts to inoperative position and shuts off the motor that powers that particular assembly of combined mechanisms.

The above description has been specific to one preferred construction of a honing machine developed to carry out the functions of the apparatus that constitutes the new and novel concept of the present invention. Certain changes in the various elements and in the exact combinations of such elements are contemplated without departure from the fundamental concept involved. The extent of such modifications shall, however, be governed by the breadth and scope of the language hereinafter appearing in the following claimed subject matter directed to the features of the apparatus disclosed for honing hard surfaced materials.

What I claim is:

1. A floating head structure for a slab honing machine comprising a slab conveyor, a support adjacent said conveyor, a spindle mounted for rotation upon said support, a finishing wheel carried by said spindle, means to drive said spindle, mechanism interposed between said support and said spindle to permit endwise shifting of said spindle and wheel in the direction of the conveyor, and power mechanism to endwise actuate said spindle between a raised inoperative position and a lowered operative position upon a slab comprising a single acting air cylinder, a piston member in said cylinder connected with said spindle to actuate said spindle in one direction, and a spring return means reacting between said support and spindle to normally urge said spindle into raised inoperative position, and air supply means connected with said cylinder including a valve for said supply means having a valve operating unit with trigger mechanism to actuate said unit, said trigger mechanism and said finishing wheel being oppositely disposed on either side of the path of travel of a conveyor actuated slab being processed by said machine with said trigger mechanism beneath said wheel, said trigger mechanism being located in the slab path to provide means responsive to the approach of a slab into working relation with respect to the finishing wheel whereby to automatically lower the finishing wheel upon the surface of said slab.

2. A floating head structure as in claim 1 further including power means connected to drive a rotatable sleeve member axially fixed in said support and surrounding said spindle, and key and slot means connecting said sleeve member and spindle to transmit the drive from said sleeve to the spindle and to allow endwise shifting of the spindle with respect to the sleeve.

3. A floating head structure as in claim 1 with the addition of a coupling between the piston member and said spindle comprising a ball bearing assembly having one race connected with said piston member and the other race connected with said spindle, and ball elements confined between said races permitting relative rotation between said spindle and said piston member while providing a direct axial connection between said spindle and said piston member.

4. A floating head structure as in claim 1 including an expansion spring interposed between the spindle and Said support to provide auxiliary means coasting with said cylinder spring return means to lift the entire weight of said spindle and finishing wheel into inoperative raised position.

5. An apparatus for honing multiple widths of slab m e s comp $ing a frame, a slab feed mechanism carried by said frame to actuate slabs of difierent widths in a predetermined path along a given plane of operation, power driven honing units with finishing wheels supported on said frame in a given relation above said path of travel of the slabs and in positions located transversely across the feed mechanism to serve fractional areas over the total width of said feed mechanism, individual actuating means for each honing unit to vertically regulate the effective height of each finishing wheel thereof in relation to the travel path of a slab and to move said finishing wheels toward and against the surface of a slab, and individual control means operatively connected with said actuating means for each honing unit to render one or more of said units workable to process slabs of different widths by means of their respective finishing wheels, said control means each including a trigger means mounted upon said frame in transverse positions to serve the fractional areas of the feed mechanism and in positions for contact by a slab being advanced by said feed mechanism toward the honing units, slabs of dilferent widths providing automatic selection and activation of the honing units situated in the areas directly proportional to the widths of the slabs being processed by the apparatus.

6. An apparatus for honing slab materials comprising a conveyor to move slabs of various widths along a predetermined plane, multiple honing units mounted in positions over the conveyor and in transverse locations thereacross to serve selected fractional areas of the total width of said conveyor, shiftable mechanism for each of said honing units connected to move the same between raised inoperative and lowered operative positions in relation to a slab on the conveyor, and separate control means connected with each of said shiftable mechanisms to regulate the movements of the honing units relatively to a slab, said control means each including an activating mechanism disposed in the plane of motion of a slab and subject to slab contact to shift the corresponding honing unit toward a slab through its shiftable mechanism, said activating mechanisms occupying laterally spaced positions crosswise of the conveyor whereby different widths of slabs selectively and automatically energize one or more of said honing units according to the widths of the slabs that are being advanced toward the honing units by said conveyor.

7. In the apparatus in claim 6, including independent power means to drive each of said honing units, electrical circuits connected to energize said independent power means respectively, each of said circuits having a hormally open switch to prevent operation of said honing units by their corresponding power means together with trip mechanism to close each of said switches, each of said trip mechanisms having an actuating element disposed in the path of an advancing slab and synchronized with said activating mechanisms to control the operation of the same honing units lowered by the slab.

8. In the apparatus in claim 6, with the addition of oscillatory apparatus to support the honing units for transverse bodily oscillation in a direction across fractional portions of the width of the conveyor, and said activating mechanism for each control means is located in the path of an oncoming slab in a predetermined relation to the oscillatory sweep of its corresponding controlled honing unit.

9. In the combination of claim 8, wherein said oscillatory apparatus connects and carries all of the honing units and functions to swing each of said group of honing units between laterally overlapping working positions with respect to the next adjacent honing units, and said activating mechanism for each control means is supported along the slab plane of travel substantially in line with the mid-position of the respective arcs traversed by each corresponding honing unit during the operative oscillation thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,988,577 Scrimgeour Jan. 22, 1935 2,662,350 Laverdisse Dec. 15, 1953 2,673,423 Hoyet et al Mar. 30, 1954 2,679,127 Laverdisse May 25, 1954 

